Trust, Transparency and Traceability — The New Watchwords of Food Safety

From: , Frankly CSR, More from this Affiliate
Published March 18, 2008 09:41 AM

For many companies product safety is a fundamental component of their CSR efforts. But in the last year or two no market has had to re-evaluate its product safety practices more than the food industry. Increasing health concerns by consumers, new government regulations, growing (often global) supply chains and increasingly competitive markets have all been influencing factors. And, of course, recent incidents like those at Topps Meat, Cargill, Westland Meat and Menu Foods — to name just a few — have not helped the food industry.

The Food Marketing Institute’s survey, “U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2007,” reported that consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply has dropped dramatically. Confidence had consistently hovered in the 80th percentile for years, but dropped to 66 percent, the lowest point since 1989. Consumer confidence in the safety of restaurant food is even lower, at 43 percent.

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